EMISSIONS OF PARTICULATE MATTER FROM RAILWAYS- AN OVERVIEW Dipl.eng. Mircea Adrian DUNGAN, Ph. D student Mechanical Engineering Faculty, POLITEHNICA University, Timişoara, România Lecturer Luisa Izabel DUNGAN Ph.D.eng. Mechanical Engineering Faculty, POLITEHNICA University, Timişoara, România REZUMAT. Recent, a fost acordată mai multă atenţie influenţei particulelor din mediu în suspensie asupra sănătăţii umane. Este recunoscut faptul ca în prezent sectorul transporturilor reprezintă o sursă majoră de particule în suspensie din aer. Pe lângă emisiile atmosferice provenite de la motoare, suprafețele supuse unei frecări de contact prin glisare sunt, de asemenea, o sursă semnificativă de particule în suspensie. Prin urmare, a fost efectuata o analiză a literaturii de specialitate pentru a concentra cunoştinţele actuale în ce priveşte concentraţia şi distribuţia de particule în suspensie din mediul înconjurător. Obiectivele acestei lucrări au fost de a colecta informaţii pentru a le oferi ulterior pentru alte articole, respectiv pentru a identifica segmentul pe care se concentrează activitatea proprie de cercetare. Cuvinte cheie: particule in suspensie, cai ferate, uzura, emisii, mediu inconjurator. ABSTRACT. Recently, much more attention has been given to the influence of particular matter into the environment on human health. It is currently acknowledged that the transport sector is a major source of airborne particulate mat- ter. Besides atmospheric emissions from mobile engines, sliding contacts are also a significant source of airborne par- ticulate matter. Therefore, a literature review was performed to summarize the current knowledge regarding the con- centration and distribution of particulate matter in the environment. The objectives of this paper are to compile information, to provide information for other future articles and to identify where focus my research activity. Keywords: particulate matter, railways, wear, emissions, environment. 1. INTRODUCTION PhD student research field can be defined like Transport and Environment. Transport presents real challenges as society tries to ensure a more environmentally sustainable future. Environment is derived from the French word “Envi- ronner”, which means to encircle or surround. All the biological and non-biological entities surrounding us are included in environment. As per Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, environment includes all the physical and biological surroundings of an organism along with their interactions. Environment is thus de- fined as “the sum total of water, air and land and the inter-relationships that exist among them and with the human beings, other living organisms and materi- als”[2], schematically presented in Fig.1[2]. Reference [3] was the first article where substances released by railways to the environment were investi- gated for the first time. Protection of soil, surface water and groundwater requires knowledge on the impact of pollutants emit- ted, for example by the transport sector in a diffuse pattern. In fact, transport sector can be considered as an important source of diffuse pollution to the envi- ronment. Until now, numerous studies focus on road traffic pollution, but little is known about railways. However, regular railway operation is also associated with the diffuse release of inorganic and organic sub- stances in the environment (Fig. 2) [3]. Figure 1 Concept of Environment: air, water, land, living organisms and materials surrounding us and their interactions together constitute environment [2]